Random Odd thoughts on dry Mid-winter Sycamore

Out to the Woods this afternoon at 3. It has been dry, dry, for a long time. Three months with < 1.4 inches... forty-five days with less than 0.25 inches. But the leaves in the litter have lost the crunchiness of the long dry late autumn. Now, as I walk along, the leaves underfoot all sound the same. In November they were distinct species with different sounds as you walked through.
Entering from the NW entrance, it is dry, but the NW pond has good extensive water. No problem drying down. There is a large area west of the East Pond, where the soil is wet enough to almost be muddy (not quite), plenty of water there. There must be good water table water seeping out/ up through this area. The water in the Wash is almost gone, but there remains a pool between the old mimosa stump and the corroded big pipe.
Three white-tailed deer were wandering around together. I sang aloud to them and then went another way, to not worry them. No sign of the pack of three dogs from earlier in the fall. I think Animal Control must have been successful in getting them to come in to food and shelter. ~ 10 inch tall 'thistle' bird feeder been strung on left side of trail over couple of sugarberries from camo-colored line. Have to discover if graduate student or who is watching this.
Few weeks ago I was near the north end of the Two Pecan Trail when I was surprised by a sudden explosion of scurrying just 20 feet away. First instant glance was running gray-colored squirrel-sized thing. It ran only a second, maybe 30-40 feet and stopped, an armadillo. I leaned against a tree and watched it for 5 minutes before it scurried behind a big rotten log and disappeared into its hole den.
The armadillos (and maybe skunks) have been foraging extensively plowing through the dry leaves to the soil layer searching for snails, beetles, grubs, other invertebrate food.
At the south end of the Two Pecan Trail, 70 feet NE of the southern big pecan, I noticed a lone young sycamore, small 5-6 inch diameter, maybe 30 feet tall. All by itself. Not many other sycamores in the Woods. How did this get here? I bet on this site, it becomes a giant tree, larger than the largest of the present cottonwood patriarchs in the Woods.
Mild, almost warm 50F day today, but we've had some periods of the coldest days of the winter. Weeks with lows in single digits and highs below 20F. The warming soil after that was odd. Dry soft inch thick layer of duff sitting on top of hard, frozen, lower, soil.